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Ambassador blames HNC stance for lack of compromise at Syria talks

According tom the Russian diplomat, if one of the sides "steps forward with such maximalist and unrealistic demands, it is hard to expect that any compromise might be found"
Alexander Kinshchak Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Alexander Kinshchak
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Syria’s government is ready to resume talks in Geneva, but a compromise is hard to be achieved due to the position of the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Kinshchak said in an interview with TASS on Monday.

"Syria’s government is ready for resumption of negotiations in Geneva. They have been speaking about it repeatedly, including in public," Kinshchak said. "With that in mind, they criticized UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura that he was delaying the beginning of a new round of the dialog."

The ambassador is confident that Damascus’ opponents - the HNC - "are not prepared to resume the intra-Syrian talks."

"Meanwhile, other opposition groups (‘the Moscow platform,’ ‘the Cairo platform’ and representatives of the internal opposition) are ready for talks with the authorities," the diplomat went on to say. "A protracted pause in this dialog is linked to the position of the Riyadh-formed group."

"It is difficult to speculate whether expectations are realistic that by August the Syrian sides would have reached certain breakthrough agreements on the so-called transitional period," Kinshchak said. "No agreements can be reached without talks. If there is no dialog, how can we expect any results by the designated deadline?"

"Also, the problem is that the HNC has refused from a serious conversation with the government," the ambassador said. "In fact, they demanded the power to be voluntarily handed over to them."

If one of the sides "steps forward with such maximalist and unrealistic demands, it is hard to expect that any compromise might be found," he said in conclusion.